Serbia and the EU

Finance Minister Goran Radosavljević announced that the public procurement law was to be amended to form a centralized institution. The formation of a centralized institution for public procurement will serve Serbia’s EU integration and is thus adapted to the EU procurement law said Radosavljević. The draft is expected to be finished by the end of September upon which, under rather unusual circumstances, it will be subject to public debate as Radosavljević pointed out. The current value of Serbia’s public procurement is at an estimated four billion Euros and the proposed amendment to the procurement law will allow for 20 – 30 percent savings in addition to lowering corruption within the public procurement administration.

“Planirano ukidanje Uprave za javne nabavke”. Ekonom East Media Group. accessed September 12, 2011. www.emg.rs/vesti/srbija/163834.html

Serbia and K&M

On September 13th, the minister for Labour and Social Politics Rasim Ljajić stated that Serbia has nearly no room for political maneuvers should Priština decide to send customs officers to the Brnjak and Jarinje border. Serbia, according to Ljajić, can only choose to act through diplomatic routes should such events transpire. The minister too pointed out that Priština would not send its customs officers to the Brnjak and Jarinje where there not tacit support from international actors. Regarding the Belgrade and Priština dialogue, Ljajić said, Serbia will try to secure the least dire outcome. However, he added, Belgrade is playing a match in which it is losing 3:0 by halftime whereas after halftime Serbia is missing two players while the referee cheers for the opposing team. This, Ljajić said, is the reality in which Serbia seeks to achieve a decent outcome.

EULEX announced that it plans to manage the Brnjak and Jarinje border from the 16th of September onward. The leading officials according to Koha Ditore, a Kosovar news agency, will be representative of Kosovar institutions. However, there are no plans to employ Kosovar border control on Brnjak and Jarinje.

Meanwhile, Serbia’s minister of internal affairs Ivica Dačić questioned whether any agreement between the international community and Serbia concerning KiM was valid. Dačić thus specifically recalled UN Resolution 1244 and the Kumanovo agreement. Speaking about the possible placement of Kosovar border control on the Brnjak and Jarinje border, Dačić stated that such an action would show disrespect regarding reached agreements between the UN and Serbia and that such actions would be attempts to change the status quo on the ground. Dačić expressed that he does not understand ‘how some people are unable to realize that such agreements as put forward by the above mentioned actors can lead to conflict’. He specifically stated that this was his personal opinion adding that ‘this does not lead to anything but an exodus of Serbs out of northern Kosovo’.

The following day, on September 14th, Oliver Ivanović, the state secretary of Kosovo, stated that Kosovo authorities are most likely to delay the sending of Kosovar border control to the Brnjak and Jarinje crossing. The sending of customs officials will be delayed, not cancelled, however. It is a positive sign, said Ivanović, that Priština is not receiving full support from the international community as she had hoped she would. Establishing a de facto border with Kosovo, according to Ivanović, would trigger Kosovar Serbs to leave Kosovo as they feel Serbian and look to Serbian institutions.

After a conference between President Boris Tadić, Prime Minister Mirko Cvetković, foreign affairs minister Vuk Jeremić, the minister for Kosovo and Metohija Goran Bogdanović and the leader of Belgrade’s negotiation team with Priština Borislav Stefanović, Dačić stated that the assumption that Serbia would do anything to join the European Union is wrong in the face of increasing pressure on Serbia regarding Kosovo’s independence. This behavior toward Serbia, said Dačić is inappropriate while unilateral moves regarding northern Kosovo could lead to grave consequences and an avalanche of conflict in the region. The minister stated his understanding that Serbia cannot act in defiance of the whole world and recognized that Serbia’s hands are tied. Yet he also rejects a ‘do nothing’ attitude which in turn would give the green light to Hašim Tači that he was allowed do anything he likes. Dačić added that Serbia controlled administrative crossings where Albanians resided on both sides which Serbia could seal off hermetically ‘if anybody wished to play such a game’. He thus raised the question of parallel Albanian institutions that are in southern Kosovo adding that Albanians in south central Serbia celebrate the 28th of November, the day of the Albanian flag, without displaying any Serbian flags, an action that would cause the dispersion of such crowds with water cannons in other states.

Serbia’s President Boris Tadić echoed some of the above sentiments stating that imminent Kosovar independence could spark other conflicts around the world. He stated that current events in Kosovo are heavily undermined on the basis of international relations leading to a damaged system while allowing for violent secession from a sovereign state to happen.

On September the 15th, Andy Sparkes, Deputy Head of the EULEX mission, stated that EULEX will establish customs at the Brnjak and Jarinje crossing together with Kosovar authorities and that the collected money resulting from customs will be handled by EULEX. Sparkes added that Belgrade knew about this plan so that there is no reason to acting surprised regarding the unfolding of events in northern Kosovo. Meanwhile, Serbian Kosovars blocked the main bridge leading to Kosovar Mitrovica. The gravel on the bridge blocked the north-south entrance to the city showing the mostly young people’s discontent with the decision that Albanian customs officers where to control the Brnjak and Jarinje crossings.

According to Politika Online, Boris Tadić as well as international officials released warnings regarding unilateral moves on the Jarinje and Brnjak crossings. Bogdanivić supported Tadić’s attitude and stated that the international community and especially the EU’s way of wanting to solve problems in Serbia will usher in renewed devastating conflicts and bloodshed instead. Bogdanović stressed several times that he, as well as the citizens of northern Kosovo seek to resolve their problems and protect their rights in a peaceful manner. However, he also emphasized that these people needed a reliable partner who understands their desires and attitudes, not somebody who violates the UN Resolution 1244, thereby imposing a new status quo.

Meanwhile, on the Jarinje and Brnjak crossing, the situation has been quiet. German KFOR soldiers put up more barbed wire while helicopters landed multiple times in their base to bring them food. Serbs, on the other side, guarded their barricades quietly. The most interesting incident, according to Politika Online, transpired when four men appeared from Leška and started to cook cabbage soup on a controlled open fire. The scent was to lure the soldiers out of their base, said one of the men and told the journalist to head his article with the title “while the cabbage cooks, god will watch over the Serbs”. At one point, so the article goes, smoke started to lift from the fire prompting television news to report that ‘thick smoke is coming from the Jarinje border crossing’. Later that day, Bogdanović and Stefanović showed up just as the cabbage soup was finished while some of the Serbs brought soup to the German officers on the other side of the barbed wire. The KFOR commander was said to have showed up just as the scene transpired accepting the offer the Serbs made to him and his soldiers.

The situation in southern Serbia, however, continues to say tense with German and French soldiers strengthening their barricades while Serbs do the same on their respective side. Passages to central Serbia, Sandžak and Montenegro have thus been barricaded. This has led to ‘rumors’ that KFOR seeks to rid itself from the Serb erected barricades even with force if necessary. However, Oliver Ivanović, state secretary for KiM demented such claims and stated that KFOR could clear one barricade in which case Serbs would erect another one. Moreover, Ivanović stated, the Serb erected barricades are not the focal problem, but the international community’s siding with the Albanian population is. Besides, he added, the current status quo cannot subsist in the south as the problem could quickly turn into a larger one yet. Incidents, according to Ivanović, are easily possible

“Ljajić: nemamo gotovo nikakav menevarski prostor”. Ekonom East Media Group. accessed September 13, 2011. www.emg.sr/vesti/srbija/163903.html.

“Ivanovic: Priština će najverovatnije odložiti akciju”. Ekonom East Media Group. accessed September 14, 2011. www.emg.sr/vesti/srbija/163969.html.

“Tadić I državni vrh dogovorili mere za Kosovo”. Ekonom East Group Media. accessed September 14, 2011. www.emg.sr/vesti/srbija/163964.html.

“Tadić: Jednostrane akcije mogu narušiti mir”. Ekonom East Media Group. accessed September 15, 2011. www.emg.sr/vesti/srbija/164037.html.

“Euleks: Beograd zna plan, nema mesta iznenađenju”. Ekonom East Media Group. accessed September 15, 2011. www.emg.sr/vesti/srbija/164049.html.

“Srbi blokirali most u Kosovskoj Mitrovici”. Ekonom East Media Group. accessed September 15, 2011. www.emg.sr/vesti/srbija/164034.html.

“Jednostrane akcije Prištine pretnja miru”. Politika Online. accessed September 18, 2011. www.politika.rs./rubrike/Politike/Jednostrane-akcije-Pristine-pretnja-miru.lt.html

“Protest na KiM se nastavlja građanskom neposlušnošču.” Politika Online. accessed September 18, 2011. www.politika.rs./rubrike/Politike/Protest-na-KiM-se-nastavlja-grdadjanskom-neposlusnoscu.lt.html.

“Kuvani kupus za nemačke vojnike”. Politika Online. accessed September 18, 2011. www.politika.rs./rubrike/Politike/Kuvani-kupus-za-nemačke-vojnike.lt.html

“Utvrđuju se i Kfor i Srbi”. Politika Online. accessed September 18, 2011. www.politika.rs./rubrike/Politike/Utvdjuju-se-i-Kfor-i-Srbi.lt.html.

Sandžak

Miljenko Dereta reported in Politica Online that Mufti Muamer Zukorlić knows how to turn the spotlight on to him every so often, be that through the BNV of the Supreme Representative body of the Sandžak Citizens – both under his control – as well as with declarations that report discrimination against Bosniaks in Serbia. According to the article, Zukorlić and ‘his’ Sandžak University enjoy all the privileges there are in the respective society, but, according to Miljenko Dereta, Executive Director of Civic Initiatives, not enough for Zurkorlić. Zukorlić is, according to the article, a man with an agenda and there is no political battle against him. The only organizations who are seeking to normalize the situation in Sandžak are some NGO’s who trying to explain who carries the ultimate consequences for such politics. While Serbian officials have been quiet, the said NGO’s have not. As a result, the civil sector has become a target of accusations including for reasons such as treason, unpatriotic behavior and violation of faith. The leading of an ordinary life is, as a result, becoming increasingly difficult and inhibits the work of civil society employees. Why, Dereta inquires, did Zukorlić step up his activities in the past couple of months? Dereta points toward Serbia’s indecision regarding as to how to properly deal with the ‘case Zukorlić’. One possible solution, according to Dereta, is to organize elections for the National Council of Bosniaks as have been organized before only to be cancelled last minute due to incomprehensible reasons. Secondly, a strong political presence in Sandžak is necessary in order to explain policies so as to reach a common denominator in the region. In any case, according to Dereta, Zukorlić does not exert as much influence in the region as has been touted by the media to date. Dereta also points out that Zukorlić’s ‘populatrity’ is based on fear of his ‘extremist’ Bosniaks and the ensuing consequences should the people choose to declare differing views. The many declarations are thus a tool to keep the situation in Novi Pazar tense. Dr. Neven Cvetićanin from the institute of social sciences thus states that Zukorlić is perfectly aware that an autonomous Sandžak will not be attainable and will not be supported by the international community. Zukorlić’s actions are thus no more than a strategy of maximizing goals so as to achieve realistic attainable interests.

“Muftija – čovek sa političkom agendom”. Politika Online. www.politika.rs/rubrike/Politika/Muftija-covek-sa-politicskom-agendom.lt.html